4. WHAT IS GRAMMAR

1.4.1. What is grammar? The term “grammar” originates from the Greek language “grammatike” and it means “the art of writing”. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines grammar as “(the study and practice of) the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences”. There are two basic elements in this definition: the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rules. Grammar, then, is the way in which words change themselves and group together to make sentences. The grammar of a language is what happens to words when they become plural or negative, or what word order is used when we make questions or join two clauses to make one sentence. The term “grammar” is often used by non-linguists with a very broad meaning. As Jeremy Butterfield (2008) defines it: "Grammar is often a generic way of referring to any aspect of English that people object to .". However, linguists use it in a much more specific sense. Speakers of a language have in their heads a set of rules for using that language and this is grammar. The term "grammar" can also be used to describe the rules that govern the linguistic behavior of a group of speakers. In a narrow sense, grammar covers two subjects: morphology and syntax. To sum up the term “grammar‟‟ is used in a number of different senses- the grammar of a language may be understood to be a full 7 description of the form and meaning of the sentence of language or else it may cover only certain, variously delimited, parts of such a description.